In conjunction with my Timothy Dalton phase, I ordered and received a copy of the 1992 movie, Framed. I wanted the entire film if I was going to watch it at all and had to order from England. Little did I know that I would have DVD issues because of the "region," however, I was able to view this on my computer using VLC.
Dalton seemed to take all that was underlying of good in the character of James Bond and pitch it to play Eddie Myers, crook extraordinaire or Bad James Bond (like Bad Captain Kirk).
The movie is that a young London detective, Sgt. Larry Jackson (David Morrissey) on holiday in Spain with his wife and children when he unintentionally notices a man who he believes is long dead bank robber by the name of Eddie Myers (Timothy Dalton). Following his instinct, he ascertains the identity of the man by detective work such as photographs, capturing his fingerprints, etc. Eddie, known in Spain as Phillip, feels something is awry, however, is too secure in his standing and position in the community to think anything major is wrong or that the gig is up.
Nevertheless, he is identified and picked up in Spain for living under an assumed identity and having multiple passports. Finicky about his personal necessities and disgusted by the jail's lack of pesticides, it does not take him long to choose to go back to England and once again turn state's evidence and become a Crown Witness against his former bank robber colleagues. Even at the outset of his arrest by the London police, you can feel that Eddie is still in charge, from his personal servants packing his bags of clothes, to refusing to go unless he charters his own plane (which he arranges himself), to even having a "private moment" with his girlfriend before leaving with the police.
Thankfully, a female judge is not overcome by his willingness to cooperate and still won't let him have a reduced sentence until he has coughed up everything he has and then some. You can see Eddie's internal reaction, well demonstrated by Dalton in the defendant's box, to the fact that he is in a spot he can no longer manipulate the outcome of his circumstances.
At the same time, Eddie is furious with his own self for not following his instincts against the young detective who "caught" him. He decides to do a spot of fishing for himself and insists on having the young detective as his handler in gathering facts while already planning his great escape with the added help of his female partners. He also determines to obtain the 1 million pounds he had acquired during the original bank robbery while he is in England and known to be alive by his former partners/bank robbers.
The movie then goes from a "cat and mouse" theme to that more of a Cheshire cat chewing up a mouse or could be renamed a how-to movie on "Best Methods to Corrupt a Police Official."
Eddie tries unsuccessfully, at first, to draw the detective out until his nemesis, DCI Jimmy McKinnes (Timothy West) unwittingly gives him the opening into Jackson's personal life he was trying to ferret out. The young detective is married. With this information, he can't help but laugh exultingly which puzzles McKinnes but Jackson, it seems, has an inkling.
Little by little, though, Eddie works on the detective now making him feel more and more unsatisfactory with his wife, his life and his job.
During a subplot where Eddie's former colleagues try to kill him, Jackson feels that Eddie tried to protect him. Myself, I think Eddie was trying to protect himself in the scene more than Jackson, but Eddie is quick to use this to his advantage. He tells Jackson of his foster brother and how he lost him in the water and replaced his identity on him.
This is one area of the film that leaves the viewer with a question mark. Since it showed flashbacks, was the story as real as Eddie insisted thru the rest of the movie that it was? Or was there blood on the hand he placed his watch and ring and Eddie had murdered whoever it was to make his clean get away?
Continuing with his manipulation, he not only was able to obtain a phone in hospital but the nurse's "affection" as well. (Someday a film will be made to show that women are not as sexually available as all films show!)
Nevertheless, contention rises when Jackson realizes Eddie must have lied to him. Jackson, on the other hand, is getting more and more dissatisfied with his life and wife and career as Eddie wheels him further and further into the trap. Jackson's wife knows that he is losing his balance even before anyone else realizes it and ends up finding "affection" with the police officer assigned to protect her and her family because of his neglect.
More and more Jackson realize he is diminishing farther and farther into the corrupt lifestyle of Eddie, even down to having relations with Eddie's girlfriend. The more he tries to disengage the more he is pulled farther and farther under the spell of the lifestyle Eddie lays out for him.
Even during the last segment of the bank robbery (where all Eddie takes is his cache from the last robbery), you never know if Eddie and Jackson are in it together or if Jackson really is trying to be a good cop.
Still, the results end the same where Jackson has to go under intense scrutiny by his superiors for lousing up a job and letting a criminal such as Eddie escape. His wife, who seems a decent sort, even offers to stand by him no matter the outcome.
He is exonerated but things are ended for him. His wife and him are quits, although demoted, he rightfully resigns from the job he loved the most and he is left destitute with a fine of 3,000 pounds for his negligence. And, rightfully so, he takes down Eddie's number one nemesis in the police department (McKinnes) by informing he had requested to be removed from the case early on and McKinnes refused.
All looks very sad for Jackson while Eddie makes his plans to escape the country with his female cohorts, one being slightly enamored and worried for Jackson's safety.
The ending scene was the double switch that I was not quite expecting, which was a thrill for me. Not many movies can startle me with an ending since I am so engrossed with films from all eras. I knew, of course, that Jackson and Eddie meet (from the previews) but not that everything was a complete plan Eddie had made, even down to the disciplinary action Jackson received! That was the "gotcha" moment for me! (Sorry for the spoiler!)
Questions in the conundrum still puzzle me: Was Jackson privy to the entire plan? If so, why did Eddie tell Jackson in private that they would be in Canada? (It was definitely NOT Canada in the ending scene but looked like Spain again.) Was Eddie telling the truth that Jackson reminded him of his foster brother? Is that why Eddie did not cheat Jackson so he could never find him again and abscond with all the money? Did the girlfriend's affection for Jackson change Eddie's mind? And not once did Jackson think, "this is a bonafide crook who would welch on the deal"? And to me, will Jackson ever see his sons again? Or think of what example he has given them?
Eddie, himself, apparently was not completely sure of Jackson in the end either. He had a weapon prepared - just in case! And to the very end the viewer is wondering, like Eddie, if Jackson has really turned completely as corrupt as he wanted him to be. And what will their future be like ....
All actors and actresses, especially Dalton, were amazing in this film. I have learned that Dalton is a chameleon in any film he plays in. You know it is him but then again you cannot recognize him from one part to another, even in back to back films. He becomes the character so much, he is amazing!
One thing to watch out for, this movie can really mess with your head!
Dalton seemed to take all that was underlying of good in the character of James Bond and pitch it to play Eddie Myers, crook extraordinaire or Bad James Bond (like Bad Captain Kirk).
The movie is that a young London detective, Sgt. Larry Jackson (David Morrissey) on holiday in Spain with his wife and children when he unintentionally notices a man who he believes is long dead bank robber by the name of Eddie Myers (Timothy Dalton). Following his instinct, he ascertains the identity of the man by detective work such as photographs, capturing his fingerprints, etc. Eddie, known in Spain as Phillip, feels something is awry, however, is too secure in his standing and position in the community to think anything major is wrong or that the gig is up.
Nevertheless, he is identified and picked up in Spain for living under an assumed identity and having multiple passports. Finicky about his personal necessities and disgusted by the jail's lack of pesticides, it does not take him long to choose to go back to England and once again turn state's evidence and become a Crown Witness against his former bank robber colleagues. Even at the outset of his arrest by the London police, you can feel that Eddie is still in charge, from his personal servants packing his bags of clothes, to refusing to go unless he charters his own plane (which he arranges himself), to even having a "private moment" with his girlfriend before leaving with the police.
Thankfully, a female judge is not overcome by his willingness to cooperate and still won't let him have a reduced sentence until he has coughed up everything he has and then some. You can see Eddie's internal reaction, well demonstrated by Dalton in the defendant's box, to the fact that he is in a spot he can no longer manipulate the outcome of his circumstances.
At the same time, Eddie is furious with his own self for not following his instincts against the young detective who "caught" him. He decides to do a spot of fishing for himself and insists on having the young detective as his handler in gathering facts while already planning his great escape with the added help of his female partners. He also determines to obtain the 1 million pounds he had acquired during the original bank robbery while he is in England and known to be alive by his former partners/bank robbers.
The movie then goes from a "cat and mouse" theme to that more of a Cheshire cat chewing up a mouse or could be renamed a how-to movie on "Best Methods to Corrupt a Police Official."
Eddie tries unsuccessfully, at first, to draw the detective out until his nemesis, DCI Jimmy McKinnes (Timothy West) unwittingly gives him the opening into Jackson's personal life he was trying to ferret out. The young detective is married. With this information, he can't help but laugh exultingly which puzzles McKinnes but Jackson, it seems, has an inkling.
Little by little, though, Eddie works on the detective now making him feel more and more unsatisfactory with his wife, his life and his job.
During a subplot where Eddie's former colleagues try to kill him, Jackson feels that Eddie tried to protect him. Myself, I think Eddie was trying to protect himself in the scene more than Jackson, but Eddie is quick to use this to his advantage. He tells Jackson of his foster brother and how he lost him in the water and replaced his identity on him.
This is one area of the film that leaves the viewer with a question mark. Since it showed flashbacks, was the story as real as Eddie insisted thru the rest of the movie that it was? Or was there blood on the hand he placed his watch and ring and Eddie had murdered whoever it was to make his clean get away?
Continuing with his manipulation, he not only was able to obtain a phone in hospital but the nurse's "affection" as well. (Someday a film will be made to show that women are not as sexually available as all films show!)
Nevertheless, contention rises when Jackson realizes Eddie must have lied to him. Jackson, on the other hand, is getting more and more dissatisfied with his life and wife and career as Eddie wheels him further and further into the trap. Jackson's wife knows that he is losing his balance even before anyone else realizes it and ends up finding "affection" with the police officer assigned to protect her and her family because of his neglect.
More and more Jackson realize he is diminishing farther and farther into the corrupt lifestyle of Eddie, even down to having relations with Eddie's girlfriend. The more he tries to disengage the more he is pulled farther and farther under the spell of the lifestyle Eddie lays out for him.
Even during the last segment of the bank robbery (where all Eddie takes is his cache from the last robbery), you never know if Eddie and Jackson are in it together or if Jackson really is trying to be a good cop.
Still, the results end the same where Jackson has to go under intense scrutiny by his superiors for lousing up a job and letting a criminal such as Eddie escape. His wife, who seems a decent sort, even offers to stand by him no matter the outcome.
He is exonerated but things are ended for him. His wife and him are quits, although demoted, he rightfully resigns from the job he loved the most and he is left destitute with a fine of 3,000 pounds for his negligence. And, rightfully so, he takes down Eddie's number one nemesis in the police department (McKinnes) by informing he had requested to be removed from the case early on and McKinnes refused.
All looks very sad for Jackson while Eddie makes his plans to escape the country with his female cohorts, one being slightly enamored and worried for Jackson's safety.
The ending scene was the double switch that I was not quite expecting, which was a thrill for me. Not many movies can startle me with an ending since I am so engrossed with films from all eras. I knew, of course, that Jackson and Eddie meet (from the previews) but not that everything was a complete plan Eddie had made, even down to the disciplinary action Jackson received! That was the "gotcha" moment for me! (Sorry for the spoiler!)
Questions in the conundrum still puzzle me: Was Jackson privy to the entire plan? If so, why did Eddie tell Jackson in private that they would be in Canada? (It was definitely NOT Canada in the ending scene but looked like Spain again.) Was Eddie telling the truth that Jackson reminded him of his foster brother? Is that why Eddie did not cheat Jackson so he could never find him again and abscond with all the money? Did the girlfriend's affection for Jackson change Eddie's mind? And not once did Jackson think, "this is a bonafide crook who would welch on the deal"? And to me, will Jackson ever see his sons again? Or think of what example he has given them?
Eddie, himself, apparently was not completely sure of Jackson in the end either. He had a weapon prepared - just in case! And to the very end the viewer is wondering, like Eddie, if Jackson has really turned completely as corrupt as he wanted him to be. And what will their future be like ....
All actors and actresses, especially Dalton, were amazing in this film. I have learned that Dalton is a chameleon in any film he plays in. You know it is him but then again you cannot recognize him from one part to another, even in back to back films. He becomes the character so much, he is amazing!
One thing to watch out for, this movie can really mess with your head!